twists and turns...

It's funny how life has twists and turns......since I joined the Heidi Swapp media team it has been like a dream come true. When Heidi asked us to join her at CHA this year all the girls on the team jumped at the chance , what an incredible experience to meet Heidi and the rest of the team and be with her at CHA. Since I was going to be in Anaheim we decided to take the whole family on our very first family holiday. We left Australia and headed to Lego Land  and Disneyland in early January. The highlight for the boys was of course Cars Land .

We were lucky enough to meet Heidi and have a class with her the night before CHA started.

 

 I stayed with the girls that night...

 

The morning of the show, just 15 minutes before it was due to open,  we had to take my eldest son to the hospital, he ended up having emergency surgery at the childrens hospital for a burst appendix. What an incredibly scary couple of hours for us. My other son was unable to visit the hospital due to the influenza outbreak in California ( my husband had to stay at the hotel with him) so I was unable to return to CHA. We spent 6 days in the hospital and had to delay our flight home by a week as he was unable to fly. I was so proud of my son who had to deal not only with being in hospital in a diffrent country but having to deal with the pain and confusion of his first surgery.

One evening I was called down to the foyer of the hospital to discover Heidi and the team waiting for me. How incredible that they would take the time to come visit me, it was a very emotional time. I could never express my gratitude to the girls for making that trip to see me at the hospital. A true testament to the loving spirit amongst the team.

Once we were able to leave the hospital, we visited Disneyland again this time with my son in a  wheel chair and saw the Space Shuttle in person.

So my trip to CHA did not go as planned, I am grateful for the short amount of time I did get to spend with Heidi, Jen, Maggie, Jamie and Lindsay, I am grateful that my son is now home and ok and I am grateful for the fun times we did manage to have while on holiday!

He loves her!

 I have shared lots of times about the sweet friendship between my eldest and his friend Kate.

I created this layout for Bella Blvd using this special photo that Kate took of the two of them recently. 

little friends....

 This layout was up on the Pebbles blog recently!

layout display....

I shared this photo over on instagram and had lots of people asking about it.
 I was tired of having piles of layouts sitting  on my table looking untidy. So  I visited Ikea and bought  the IRJA curtain rod set and some curtain hooks with clips.

 

I decided to hang them in my downstairs formal dining area near a window so its nice and bright and my visitors can look at my layouts instead of going through the piles on the table.

My dad cut them to size and then we measured the correct height. I have used regular page protectors to hold the layouts and added in the clips over the curtain rods, I added  the hooks and clips to the holes in the plastic page protectors as well.

 

 I am totally in love with it, and everyone who sees it loves it too!

his moustache

I was tickled pink to be asked to be Guest Designer over at Stuck Sketches this month. The first reveal has gone live today.

Love this photo of my eldest with his bubbachino moustache.

 

                              I have used some favourite buttons and a baggie from Greatest View.

                                                            Some Elle's Studio tags.

 

My journalling is hidden in the baggie.

 

Instagram 2012....

Do you use instagram? I love it and I wanted to record me favourite memories from 2012, I decided to use a couple of Heidi Swapp Memory Files, a regular size and 2 minis.
I started by covering a plain clipboard with Sugar Chix pattern paper.
I then began with a sugar chic file folder and a mini vintage chic file folder.
My very good friend Chantalle designed my "2012 recorded on instagram" banner, thanks so much Chantalle.

 The mini Memory File opens up to reveal the first couple of months.
I used Heidi's digi month words, cut them on my Cameo and spritzed them in Mustard ColorShine.

  Inside the large Memory file, another banner created by my friend Chantalle.

A flair and baggie from Greatest View.

  Inside the baggie  more photos

Another Mini Memory File.

My most favourite and exciting Memory from 2012.

 I used PicMonkey a free online photo editing site to make my collage. I created several liftable flaps using pattern paper.

These photos sit on an acetate banner.

 

 My last page includes one of Heidi's  downloadable Christmas freebies.

Thanks for visiting, I'm excited to be sharing that later this week I am  flying out to  LA to attend my very first CHA, along with the other Media Team girls and Heidi, what an incredible experience. Im just sooooo honoured, I can't wait to share my memories with you all.

gift wrap...

These  gift wrapping ideas were up on the BasicGrey blog recently!

I also made these cards a couple of months ago using BasicGrey's Aspen Frost collection. Super simple and quick

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas , my family and I did...